Tag Archives: Kip Moore

Click here to see a photo gallery from The Megaphones' performance at Tuesday night's Grammy Block Party in Owen Bradley Park. (Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean)

More than 1,000 members of the music industry and their guests converged on Music Row's Owen Bradley Park on Tuesday night for free barbecue, an open bar and performances from some of the hottest up-and-coming acts on the scene -- courtesy of The Recording Academy.

The Nashville chapter's annual Grammy Block Party featured performances from The Lone Bellow, which recently spent time opening for Dwight Yoakam; Kip Moore, who has charted two No. 1 country hits “Somthin’ ‘Bout a A Truck” and “Beer Money” and is on his way to a third with “Hey Pretty Girl,”; singer/songwriter Will Hoge, who penned the Grammy-nominated “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”; Christian group Rhett Walker Band; country singer Kristen Kelly, who found success with debut single “Ex-Old Man” and is currently on tour with Rascal Flatts; DJ DU; and The Megaphones, a horn ensemble that refers to itself as hip-hop soul.

Kelly took the opportunity to share many of the same songs she’s playing nightly on tour with Rascal Flatts, including “Drink Myself Out of Love With You,” "Let It Break Your Heart,” “Ex-Old Man” and most current single “He Loves to Make Me Cry.”

Hoge played “When I Get My Wings” and “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” and dedicated “Another Song Nobody Will Hear” to his “brothers and sisters” on Music Row trying their best to write hit songs as well as to “one of my favorite singers who is mentioned at the end, Mr. George Jones.”

“This is probably career suicide to play this last verse here at the end of Music Row,” he told the audience. “If nothing else, you can say you were here the night Will Hoge’s career started to unravel.”

He sang: “They want songs about the back roads, and tractors, trucks and beers/ While I write another song, another song nobody will hear/Another song like George and Tammy, another song like Bill Monroe/Another song you'll never hear on country radio.”

Then Moore hit the stage to perform for the biggest crowd of the night and played his multi-week No. 1 “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” and it’s follow-up chart-topper “Beer Money.”

“I promise to give you people up here all I’ve got tonight,” Moore told the crowd that was pressed against the stage.

The Georgia native, who is scheduled to open for Toby Keith on tour this summer, filled his set with cuts from his debut album “Up All Night,” including the title track, “Reckless,” and “Crazy One More Time” as well as new songs “What I Do” and “Break My Heart.”

Click the photo above for a photo gallery from Kip Moore's performance of a late-night show on Fremont Street in Las Vegas on Friday, April 5, 2013. (Photo: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean)

LAS VEGAS - Thousands of people turned out Friday night to watch Kip Moore play hits including “Beer Money” and “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” during the Academy of Country Music’s weekend at Fremont Street Experience.

Moore worked every angle of the stage as fans held up signs, lunged for hand slaps and sang along to not only his No. 1 songs, but his other ones, too. The Georgia native sang new single “Hey Pretty Girl,” album cuts “Reckless” and “Crazy One More Time,” and “Backseat,” which will be on his new album due out next year.

The public’s display of affection is a different situation than what Moore experienced last year during the ACM Awards when he recalls playing a parking lot for about 50 people. But that was before his two No. 1 hits and his opening spots for Tim McGraw and Eric Church – all of which positioned Moore for this show and the others he’s been playing, even selling out small arenas.

“It’s been chaos,” he said, sitting on the back of his tour bus – also a new addition since last year. “I’m just now starting to wrap my head around that this thing is working. We played a arena in Rhode Island recently and it was our headlining thing and it was sold out, and when I walked out and heard the energy of the crowd, I finally had that moment of ‘this thing is working.’ It was that moment of, ‘We’ve arrived.’”

He said that even as recently as last week as he put his hand on the handle of the tour bus, he was struck by the fact that it was his.

“I could remember driving in my little truck when I came to town and the tour buses would pass and I thought to myself, 'I’m going to have one of those one day.' Although I did believe it, at the same time, I didn’t. I did all of this on my own. I didn’t borrow anything. I did it all by road-dogging it and a hit finally paid for all of it.”

And soon, Moore said, he’ll have a new album to take fans even further into his music. He thinks current single “Hey Pretty Girl” will be the last off his current album “Up All Night.”

“I’ve got so much material waiting and we’re going to start recording in May,” he said. “I’m itching so bad to get to it.”

As the party continued on Moore’s bus, full of friends and plenty of liquor, the crowds of fans outside dispersed. But if history is any indication, they’ll be back next year. And they’ll bring their friends.

After several weeks on the road, "Nashville" returned home for episode 14, and to celebrate, a crew of Music City stars welcomed Rayna James and co. back to town - and threw Deacon a surprise birthday party - at the Bluebird Cafe.

The show's first few months of episodes went by without a single (speaking) cameo by a real-life Nashville star, but they tested the waters in January with appearances from Chris Young and Brantley Gilbert. Tonight, they went whole hog at Deacon's birthday party, withVince Gill, Dan Auerbach, Kip Moore and Pam Tillis all landing speaking roles. Additionally, Nashville pop/rock songstress Erin McCarley returned as Rayna's new guitar player, "Adria."

- It's the site of frequent real-life celebrity sightings, so it was only a matter of time until "Nashville" stars stopped by the Mall at Green Hills, as well as a nearby Kroger.

- Avery pored over a high-priced six-string (and caught up with Watty White) at Nashville's Gruhn Guitars, located on Lower Broad (but not for long).

- We'll have to check with the local authorities, but we're pretty sure Nashville's Riverfront Park is not a suitable gun disposal site. Sorry, Gunnar.

- Nashville's no-good paparazzi strikes again, and this time, they're stealing our staffers! "Did the Tennessean stop paying you? I thought you were a real photojournalist," Rayna asks one of them. Whether or not they exist, we're pretty sure they wouldn't be allowed to stalk stars in the Bluebird's parking lot. By the way, if you'd like to see what a real star-studded private party at the Bluebird looks like, check out our report from a secret Willie Nelson/Kris Kristofferson show held there last month.

Take note, country fans: you can have your fun at a Kip Moore concert, but he might not be able to continue the party with you at your frat house after the gig - as some students at Western Carolina University recently learned.

"I told them I’d swing by, and then the cops informed me that it might not be a good idea, because they were going to be patrolling that frat house pretty hard, because some stuff had kind of gone down," he recalls. "I said, 'Well, I think it’s probably in my best interest to stay away.'"

These days, that's just another night in the life of the rising country star, who's topped the charts in the last year with hits "Somethin' Bout a Truck" and "Beer Money." His rowdy tour of clubs and campuses makes a stop in Nashville on Friday for a sold-out show at Marathon Music Works.

“The vibe has been chaos," Moore says of the tour. "Everybody’s right on top of you, and I love it like that. It kind of brings it back to the roots of when you first started doing it in the small clubs. The coolest thing is that they know the whole record. I’m singing everything from the record, and they’re singing it just as loud as they are 'Truck,' back to me, which is a pretty good feeling.”

Click image to view photos from the 2012 American Country Awards. Here, Luke Bryan is onstage during the awards show held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on December 10, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

LAS VEGAS — On the red carpet before American Country Awards in Las Vegas, Trace Adkins swore he wouldn’t tote his tiny, Tony Award-winning co-host Kristin Chenoweth onto the stage in a Baby Bjorn like last year. He brought her out in a hot-pink baby sling instead.

The co-hosts kept the mood playful in Sin City — handing the sling over to Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, who just announced she is expecting her first child — while Luke Bryan took nine awards, the most of the evening.

Other big winners at the live show from Mandalay Bay Events Center included Miranda Lambert with three awards including Female Single of the Year for “Over You.” She thanked husband Blake Shelton for co-writing the song, and she said she’s Tivoing him on “The Voice” and hoped he was Tivoing her as well as they were featured in competing television time slots on Monday night.

“Honey, we won an award and I’m really excited,” she shouted out to him via television. “Fans, thank you so much.”

Carrie Underwood set a record receiving her 11th ACA award during the show’s three-year history. This year, Underwood took home the award for female artist of the year.

“It’s fan-voted, so it really means a lot,” she said of the American Country Awards, the only country music awards show that allows fans to vote for their favorite artists in various categories. “I already know I have awesome fans, but when they do something like this for me, it’s really awesome.”

Underwood also eluded to the hockey lockout with holiday time coming up with family and husband Mike Fisher.

“We can actually plan something now,” she said.

Crowd-pleasing live performances included Little Big Town’s confetti-swirled performance of “Tornado,” and Adkins on stage with Lynyrd Skynyrd for the band’s hit ‘What’s Your Name.” It had many of the stars on their feet, including Jason Aldean, who had just accepted his award for top touring act, and Keith Urban who flashed the rock hand signal to the stage.

This is the third year for the American Country Awards. The nominees for each award category were determined by four media measurement companies: BigChampagne (record sales and media consumption); Great American Country (video airplay); Mediabase (radio airplay); Pollstar (touring data); and Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Full list of winners for the 2012 American Country Awards held tonight in Las Vegas:

Moore landed a multi-week No. 1 hit this summer with “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” and his current single “Beer Money” is inside the Top 10 on Billboard’s country radio airplay chart and climbing.

But recently Moore said what he was most looking forward to was the opportunity to play some new songs for fans during a run headlining shows at clubs and theaters in early 2013.

“(It will be) mediocrity at best,” he smiled, and joked of his new songs. “It’s covering a lot of topics that I haven’t covered yet, which I guess is the way you’re going to grow as a writer anyway. The first record had an edge. (The new music) has even more of an edge. I’m excited for people to get the chance to hear these songs.”

Call him clairvoyant, but Kip Moore predicted a win for his friends in Thompson Square (who won vocal duo of the year during the CMA Awards) more than an hour before their names were called.

“I’m so close with those guys,” he said. “The CMAs are a huge night and I struggled (to make it) with Keifer (Thompson) for years in town, so it will be fun to be at the awards show with him to see that happen.”

Thompson Square wasn’t the only CMA winners Moore had thoughts on – the “Beer Money” singer has spent the fall on tour with Eric Church, who won album of the year for his work “Chief.”

“He’s been the most gracious host I could possibly think of,” Moore said of opening for Church. “His show is phenomenal. I’m a student and you can learn a lot. It’s been the best tour I could possibly be on.”

But even touring the arena circuit with Church, having logged a multi-week no. 1 song with “Somthin’ ‘Bout a Truck” and with “Beer Money” still in the Top 10 and still climbing, Moore isn’t confident that his footing in country music is secure. But, he’s getting there.

“I’m ecstatic and I can’t believe how fast ‘Beer Money’ has gone up the charts,” he said. “But I can definitely feel the momentum. I’m not quite as scared as I was before, but I’m still on edge. I’m already thinking about how I can follow this one up.”